The UN’s two major bodies — the 193-nation General Assembly and the more powerful 15-member Security Council — held separate meetings Monday on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reflecting widespread demands for a cease-fire and escalating concern for the millions of Ukrainians caught up in the war.
The Security Council gave a green light Sunday for the first emergency session of the General Assembly in decades. Both meetings follow Russia’s veto Friday of a Security Council resolution demanding that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops. The vote was 11-1, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining.
Sunday’s vote in the Security Council on a resolution co-sponsored by the United States and Albania to authorize the General Assembly session was exactly the same as on Friday — 11-1 and three abstentions. But because council approval for such a session is considered a procedural vote there are no vetoes and the resolution got more than the minimum nine yes votes needed for approval.
Last week, Ukraine asked for a special session of the General Assembly to be held under the so-called Uniting for Peace resolution, initiated by the United States and adopted in November 1950 to circumvent vetoes by the Soviet Union during the 1950-53 Korean War.
That resolution gives the General Assembly the power to call an emergency session to consider matters of international peace and security when the Security Council is unable to act because of the lack of unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
The US ambassador told the council after Sunday’s vote that members had taken an important step forward in holding Russia accountable for its unjustifiable assault, fabricated out of lies and the rewriting of history, and now all nations can be heard in the General Assembly.
We are alarmed by the mounting reports of civilian casualties, videos of Russian forces moving exceptionally lethal weaponry into Ukraine, and the widespread destruction of civilian facilities like residences, schools and hospitals, Thomas-Greenfield said.
To the Russian officers and soldiers, I say: The world is watching. Photographic and video evidence is mounting, and you will be held accountable for your actions. We will not let atrocities slide.
Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha called Sunday’s resolution historic because it opens the big doors of the place where the world meets — the U.N. General Assembly — to speak out and condemn an unprovoked and unjustified pure act of aggression. Russia must be stopped in its attempt to break the international rules-based order to replace it with its will, he said.
All member states, especially the small ones like mine which constitute the majority of the UN, must remember that international law rules and the UN Charter are their best friend, their best army, their best defense, their best insurance.